Students streamed into eHub in Collegetown Sept. 4 for an event hosted by Entrepreneurship at Cornell, featuring more than 30 resource tables and pitches from four students hoping to be part of eLab, the student business accelerator.

Niko Tsavekou ’27, an economics major in the College of Arts & Sciences, won the pitch contest for Katha, a creatine-enhanced coconut water recovery drink he created with two friends.

“None of the drinks on the market use creatine, an ingredient that has cognitive benefits, skin benefits and health benefits,” said Tsavekou, adding that the drinks are already in 38 boutique fitness studios and will start shipping to online customers starting in October.

He’s enthusiastic about how his company could grow by being part of eLab. “eLab has a vast network of people throughout the country in every single business area,” Tsavekou said. “I’m excited to talk to Cornell alums who I didn’t have access to before, who can give me advice.”

As the winner, Tsavekou received $1,000 and admission into eLab, which will welcome a new cohort of students teams this fall. eLab teams spend the fall semester in boot camps and classes, conducting feasibility analyses, developing business models and receiving mentorship from industry experts.   

A smaller cohort of eLab teams will advance to the spring semester, where they further develop their business models, continue to network and positioning themselves for potential angel and venture capital funding. They present their ideas to potential investors in New York City and Silicon Valley and pitch their ideas at eLab Demo Day in April during Entrepreneurship at Cornell’s Celebration Ezra event.

The kickoff event also included remarks from Zach Shulman ’87 J.D. ’90, director of Entrepreneurship at Cornell; Gregory Ray, the Don and Margi Berens Professor of Entrepreneurship and director of eLab; and Matt Marx, the Bruce F. Failing, Sr. Professor of Personal Enterprise and faculty director for Entrepreneurship at Cornell.

Marx shared statistics about Cornell’s place in the startup world:

• More than 20,000 startups have come out of Cornell, including household names like Wayfair and Ezra Cornell’s Western Union
• Cornell ranks #6 in PitchBook’s rankings for entrepreneurial universities
• Cornell ranks in the top 10 of universities with founders chosen for YCombinator

Alum Dan Cane ’98, also attended the kickoff event, telling students about the founding of Blackboard and his current company, Modernizing Medicine, which now has over 4,000 employees. In addition to academic scholarships, Cane also funds a student startup summer stipend program that awards $6,000 and mentorship to about 8 Cornell students every summer to work on their own startups. 

“That’s one of the many opportunities you’ll find at Cornell,” he said. “Entrepreneurs are built not born. Nobody knows how to do funding, figure out the right incorporation, how to do marketing, how to do management. These are things you learn. And there is an ecosystem here to help you.”